There was a time, a decade ago, when former San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Édouard Vlasic was considered the most reliable and underpaid player in the NHL. Vlasic was earning $4.25MM in each year at the end of his five-year contract with the Sharks and had significantly outperformed his salary throughout his career.
That was until he signed a massive eight-year, $56MM contract in the summer of 2017, which completely altered the perception of the respected stay-at-home defender. The 38-year-old was bought out earlier this summer and hasn’t been much talked about in free agency, which isn’t surprising given his age and limited success in recent years. Vlasic has been playing below replacement level lately and struggled to stay in the lineup last year, being a healthy scratch at times and dealing with some injuries. All of this raises the question: what’s next for Vlasic?
Vlasic has publicly stated that he plans to play in the NHL this season, which is the goal of any professional hockey player. However, for him, that aspiration might not be realized given that he hasn’t been a consistent contributor since the 2017-18 season. Unfortunately, for both Vlasic and especially for the Sharks, his $7MM cap hit began during the 2018-19 season, coinciding with his decline. Vlasic’s performance significantly dropped from 2018 to 2020 and never recovered afterward. In fact, his poor play negatively affected star defensemen Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson, who both saw their numbers decline considerably when paired with Vlasic.
Vlasic’s salary, combined with his decline, played a significant role in the Sharks’ window of contention closing, as the flat salary cap worsened their cap struggles, along with Vlasic carrying arguably the worst contract in the league. Remarkably, Vlasic earned his contract extension after being one of, if not the top, defensive contributors in the NHL, while being vastly underpaid. However, for the Sharks, they signed the contract extension with Vlasic at precisely the wrong time.
So why does all of that matter if Vlasic no longer earns a big salary and can be signed for league minimum? Firstly, there are better defensive options still available in free agency who could have a more positive impact than Vlasic. Calvin de Haan could be signed cheaply, and he is four years younger and much more productive. Matt Grzelcyk is another player with a different style of game who posted 40 points last year. There are plenty of better…
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